Roofing with self-cementing butts



Nav. 3, l942 c, wl CUNQ 2,300,488

ROOFING WITH SELF-CEMENTING- BUTTS Filed Jan. 17, 1941 A 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Q/ l INVENTOR, @9 I MW W @L Patented Nov. 3, 1942 ROOFIN WITH SELF-CEMENTING BUTTS Charles W. Cuno, Wilmington, Ill., assigner to The Lehon Company tion of Illinois Chicago, Ill., a corpora- Application January 17, 1941, Sei-iai No. 374,830

7 Claims.

A problem which has confronted the roofing industry for manyyears is the problem of keeping the lower ends of exible shingles nat and' tight against the roof. Only the upper parts of shingles are nailed and according to conventional practice the lower ends are left loose. The exposed portionsgcannot be nailed because this would cause leakage. Under some conditions these exposed loose shingle ends curl up. Occasionally a strong wind will catch under the loose ends of the shingles and blow the entire covering on of the roof.

A great deal of inventive thought has been devoted through the years to the effort of solving this problem. Of course, one expedient is to apply cement to the undersurface of the shingle as it is laid, but this greatly increases the cost of laying the shingles and hence is not ordinarily considered commercially practical unless in very windy areas where some securing means is considered necessary. Various schemes have been proposed for applying the cement to the shingles in manufacture but none of them have been satisfactory for the reason that there has been no practical way for keeping such cement from causing trouble by sticking in the bundle.

According 4to the present invention, the problem is solved in a manner which is thoroughly practical and at the same time is so exceedingly simple as to be thoroughly feasible from the manufacturing and cost standpoints. According to this invention, a cement ls applied during manufacture which is of such nature that it will stick to other areas coated with the same cement but will not stick to areas not so coated. For convenience, this type of cement may be called a cooperative adhesive. It needs .cooperation between two cemented surfaces to adhere rmly. Each shingle is provided with a narrow band of the cooperative adhesive on 'its underside at the bottom thereof and another band on its face side. The position of the band at the top is such that it will not come in contact with the first mentioned band in the bundle and it will come in contact with and stick to the bottom of the overlying shingle in the overlapping position in which they are naturally laid, A

Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description and from the drawings, in which:v

, Fig. 1 is a face view of a roong strip chosen forillustration of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a back view ofthe saine.l Fig. 3 is a view of a stack or bundle of the.

roong strips .with the upper strip curled back to show the relationship between it and the strip therebelow.

Fig. 4 is a view showing the overlapped positions of the roofing elements on a roof with an upper element curved back to show the alinement of the adhesive on the back thereof with the adhesive on the front of the underlying strip.

Fig. 5 is an end elevation of a stack of the roofing elements shown in Figs` 1 to 4.

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken approximately on the line 6-6 lof a roof Vsuch as that shown in Fig. 4.

Fig. '7 is a diagrammatic representation of a suitable method and apparatus for forming the shingle strip of Figs. 1 to 4.4

Figs.: A and 9 are fragmentary detail views taken approximately on the lines 8-8 and 9-9 respectively, showing particularly the recessed rolls for receiving the adhesive bands.

A preferred form of the inventionhas been chosen for illustration and description, in compliance with section 4888 of the revised statutes, but persons skilled in' the art will readily perceive other means for accomplishing the same results, and the claims are therefore to be construed as broadly as possible, consistent with the prior art.

As seen in Fig. 1, the shingle element chosen for illustration includes a head lap portion Il, at the lower end of which are formed a plurality of butt portions or tabs l2 separated by slots I3. Of course,the invention could be applied to other types of shingle or siding strips or'to separate shingles. The roofing element illustrated is one f conventional form of prepared roofing having a base of conventional roonng felt, conventionally saturated and coated with asphalt, and surfaced on its face with mineral granules and on its back with some adhesion-preventing medium, such as .the conventional talc or mica akes. It is preferred that this adhesion-preventing medium on the back comprise the thin creped tissue now being Aused for this purpose by The Lehon Comparv. H

According to the present invention, a band I4 of cooperative cement (which will not adhere rmly except to like. bands) is applied over the surfacing granulesvon the face of the shingle approximately at the bottom of the head lap l I. The band I4 extends the full length of the roofing strip. Another band I6 of the same cooperative'cement is vapplied over the surfacing materialv onthe back of, the strip at the bottom thereof as seen in Fig. 2. The hand I6 extends l surface. adhesive comes in contact only with the facing thefull length ofthe shingle strip except as it is interrupted by the slots I3.

As clearly seen from Figs. 3 and 5, the bands 'Il and I6 do not come in contact with one another in the bundle and hence the shingles are not stuck together. The exposed face of the cooperative adhesive I4 comes in contact with the conventional non-adhesive surfacing or backing material on the strip above it and, as indicated by the expression cooperative adhesive, it does not stick to this non-adhesive Likewise, the band I6 of cooperative granules of the strip below it and 'does not adhere to these granules. Of course, in both instances the cement might cling slightly to the exposed surfaces as the shingles are pulled apart but not enough to render it diillcult to separate the shingles or to disrupt either the cement or the surfacing material. As seen in Figs. 4 and 6, an entirely different action results from the overlapped displacement of the shingles in applying the shingles to a roof. In this instance the band I6 falls directly on the band I4 of the strip therebelow. The upper shingle strip should be pressed firmly against the lower shingle strip. When the two bands of cement I4 and I6A come in contact with one another in this manner and The llerin formula (c) is preferably powdered mica but mica, talc. clay and Whiting are interchangeable as fillers in' all of the formulas. Also, color may be added or substituted for other ller as desired. The rubber may be any scrap rubber, including chlorinated rubber, that is unvulcanized or'only partly vulcanized. It is iirst dissolved in the hydrogenated gasoline (for which could be substituted gasoline, benzol or toluene), and the rosin residue is added next. Other resinous substances, such as those mentioned in the other formulas, could be used. 'Ihe methyl abeetate (known as Abolyn) and the filler may be added subsequently. Any plasticizer which is a solvent for both the rubber and the rosin could be used instead, Hercolyn and dibutyl-phosphate being examples. The rosin residue is the residue from the steam distillation of rosin. One

suitable form is that available from the Hercules Powder Company. A

The cement is best applied immediately after the`surfacing materials have been applied to the coated and saturated roong felt. Thus, as seen 'in Fig. 7, the hot saturated and coated web 2| tabs l2 down tightly so that they will not curl or be blown up. This also tends to seal the roof sothat wind cannot blow water upwardly under the tabs. It will be understood, of course, that the shingles are also secured in the conventional way by nails extending through the head lap portion and into the supporting roof structure. The cooperative cement may comprise a wide variety of pressure-sensitive adhesive materials. It is probable that any of the pressure-sensitive adhesives could be used with a fair degree of satisfaction. It is preferred, however, that one be. chosen which adheres a little less readily to other types of materials than some of the pressure-sensitive adhesives. The pressure-sensitive adhesives used on envelopes would be satisfactory, although they are relatively expensive.

One formula which would be satisfactory except for being more lexpensive than desired is the following: v.

' Parts Milled rubber 5 to 10 Gasoline '15 to 80 Mica 10 Other formulas of somewhat lower cost are' thc following, the iirst figures in formula (c) being at present preferred:

Finer l 4 or I 3 to 1o passes under a sprinkling trough 22 which supplies the facing granules and around a roll 23 which embeds these granules into the coating asphalt while at the same time a backing web 24 of creped tissue paper is applied from a roll 26. From the roll 23 the surfaced web 2| passes around rolls 21 and 28. As it does so, cement is printed onto the front and back surfaces of the web along the desired lines by rollers 29 which A As a matter of fact, since the temperature of the y Parts (a) Milled rubber 10 Tall oil pitch 50- Benznl 10 Methyl abietate 5 to 10 Talf 10 to 15 (b) Chlorinated rubberr. 5 to 10 Hydrogenated. rosin 25 to 35 IIydrogenated, gasoline 10 to 15 Wax tailings 10 to 15 Dihydro methyl abietate 5 to 15 Mica. 1 l `5 to 10 (c) 'Rosin residue 45 or 40 t 60 Rubber 5 or 2 to 5 Methyl abietate 15 or 10 to 20 Hydrogenated gaso1ine. ...v 10 or 5 to 10 also run in contactwith supply rollers 3l running with their lower portions below the cement level in cement reservoirs 32. Of course, conventional mica flakes or talc could be substituted for the paper but the adhesion would not be as good.

While the cement is wet, it will stick readily to non-adhesive materials such as the facing granules or the surfacing material on the back of the web or to the surfaces of the conveying rolls.` However, it is conventional practice with roofing to carry the web through a cooler made up of a succession of rolls 36 which are usually water-cooled. and the cooling time thus provided -will also 'serve to enable the cement to dry. It

is of course necessary that the cement be kept out of contact with the surfaces of the rolls until it is driedenough so that it will not stick to them. To this end the rolls 36 are provided with annular grooves 38 positioned to receive the bands of freshly-applied cement 39. The cement bands will be quite thin and these grooves 38 may therefore be quite shallow. A

lt will be observed that according to the preferred process in Fig.` 7 the cement is applied to the web while it is still vquite hot, having just come from the coater beforethe granules are sprinkled thereon at 22. This is advantageous since it quickens'the drying of theV cement. To

the same end the cement supply in the reservoirs 32 is preferably kept hot, say 150 F.-

If desired, a shower of water may be applied from a shower pipe 4I across the face of the web roofing is close to 300 F., a substantial amount of water will be quickly evaporated, and the the cement 'will not stick to them. The rolls 21,-

2 8 and 42 may all be rolls conventionally used in the manufacture of prepared roofing (except for the `provision of the grooves 38 as mentioned),

it having been common to provide a large roll at the position of the roll 21 and small shiftable rolls at approximately the positions of the rolls 28 and 42. The cementing rollers 29 may coact with these conventional rolls.

kIn Fig. 8 the band 39 on the underside of the shingle has been shown twice as wide as that on the upper side. This 4is because it is at the position in which the web is split longitudinally to form two shingle strips, each one including along one edge half of the cement band in question. It should be understood that the slots I3 are cut along the edges formed by this slitting so that this edge will be the bottom ofthe roong strip in each instance. Of course, if preferred,

will secure the butts rmly and permanently when the bands of cooperative adhesive are pressed together on the roof.

I claim:

1. A roofing element having on its surfaces areas of cement characterized by the ability to stick to other cemented areas but not to areas free of the cement, one of said areas being on the front of the element and onefbeing at a position on the back of the element near its bottom edge staggered so as not to contact the cemented area on the front of an adjacent element in a bundle but so as to come in contact with the cemented area on the front of an underlying element inthe two slightly separated narrow bands could be Y used in place of the one wide band and the slitting could be performed between them. 'Ihis should be done if under any conditions it is found that there is trouble with stickingof the cement to the slitting wheel or to other parts when it is slit.v

Although the invention has bee illustrated in connection with square butt shingle strips cut longitudinally from the web, it will be apparent that the invention is also applicable to single shingles, hexagonal shingle strips, siding, rolls and all other analogous elements. In the caseof some of these elements, it maybe necessary to use a more complex cement painting roll to proper method of laying elements on a roof.

2. A roofing element having on its surfaces areas of cement characterized by the ability to stick to other cemented areas but not to areas free of the cement, one of said areas being on the front of the element and one being at a position on the back of the element staggered so as not to contact the cemented area on the front of an adjacent element in a bundle but so as to. come in contact with the cemented area on the front of an underlying element in the proper method of laying elements on a roof.

3. A roof-lng velement having on its surfaces areas of cement characterized by the ability to stick to lother cemented areas but not to areas free of the cement, one of said areas being on the front of the element and one being at a position on the back of the element near its'bottom edge staggered so as not to contact the cemented area proper methodV of laying elements on a roof, said apply the cement in longitudinal registry with 1 least on the back of the web, whenever the continuous cement bands will be staggered in the Vfinished rooing element. This probably will include all elements having their horizontal dimensions cut longitudinally of the web. For example, in hexagon roong, bands may be applied at the back of the web so 'positioned that one of them will be positioned adjacent each bottom edge. Although this will provide two bands on the back of each' hexagon butt or tab, neither one of them will fall on the cement band on the underlying head lap portion' in the bundle. In this event the head lap portions or the4 portions lying under the tabs in the nished roof may be provided with two bands, one coinciding with each band on the back of the butt. It is onlythese bands on the head lap portion that need to be registered in order to keep them from being visible between the tabs of the overlying shingle. It will be observed from Fig. 4 that the band I4 is visible between the tabs l2 of the overlying shingle, but the area of visibility is so small that this will not be noticeable.

From the foregoing it is seen that the problem of adequately and permanently securing the exinexpensive manner which will'not make more areas being'in the form of substantially continuous parallel bands. l

4. A roofing element having on' its surfaces areas of cement characterized by the ability to stick to other cemented areas but not to areas free of the cement, one of said areas being on the front of the element and one being vat a position on the back of the element near its bottom edge staggered so as not to contact the cemented area on the front of an adjacent element in a bundle but so as to come in contact with the cemented area on the front of an underlying element in the proper method of laying elements on a roof, said areas being so staggered as to come in con" tact with one another ingay bundle only if like faces are put together with top edges together and bottom edges together.

expensive the application of the elements to the roof has been solved. The cooperative cement may be applied in'narrow zones and with simple apparatus so that it will not be very costly. It is of: such nature that it will not cause any firm adhesions in the bundle where the bands do not come in contact with one another and yet it 5. A roong element having first and second faces, an adhesive area on the rst face, and `a cooperative area on the second face, the disposition of these two areas being such that, in proper laying of a plurality' of such roong elements on a roof in overlapping relationship, the adhesive area of one will come in contact with the cooperative area of the other but when properly a roof in overlapping relationship, the adhesive area of one will come in contact with the cooperative area of the' other adjacent the bottom edge of the upper element but when properly arranged in a bundle these areas will not come in contact with one another, the areas which will come in contact with each of said rst-named areas in a bundle being of such nature as not to adhere to the contacting area.

7. A roofing element having first and. second faces, an adhesive areal on the first face, and a cooperative area on the second face, the disposition of these two areas being such that, in proper laying of a plurality of such roofing elements on a roof in overlapping relationship, the adhesive area of one will come in contact with the cooperative area of the other but when properly arranged in a bundle these areas will not come in contact with one another. the areas which will come in contact with each of said mst-named areas in a bundle being of such nature as not to adhere to the contacting area, the adhesive and cooperative areas being so staggered as to come in Contact with one another in a bundle only if like faces are put together with top edges together and bottom `edges together.`

v CHARLES W. CUNO. 

